


Mating Rituals

by SleepsWithCoyotes



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story | Second Evolution
Genre: Archival Fic, Ashton's Bi Awakening, Challenge fic, Don't copy to another site, Dragons, Interspecies Relationship(s), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes
Summary: No, really. Fighting is a metaphor.
Relationships: Ashton Anchors/Dias Flac/Gyoro | Creepy/Ururun | Weepy
Kudos: 14
Collections: Coyo's Old Archive Fic





	Mating Rituals

**Author's Note:**

> Back to working on moving stuff over from the spambot...this one's from 2007, for...uh...a mystery community! Yeah, I still don't know which comm the YC Obscure Fandoms challenge was on, but this was the prompt: Star Ocean 2, Dias/Ashton with dragon xenokink. I've seen Dias' feelings on the dragons done before, but what does Ashton think of the situation? Bonus points for fighting and/or blood, be it thanks to the dragons, Dias, or even possessed!Ashton (which, while not my favorite plot device, could definitely work for something like this).

The dragons were ancient and probably wiser than him in many ways, but as Ashton eventually realized, they didn't know much about humans. It was an impression formed in the first days of their unexpected union, and in the weeks and months that followed, familiarity only gave weight to that suspicion. Not just weight but _scope_. Gyoro and Ururun had assumptions, had preconceptions and theories built around human behavior, but they were just as likely to be colored by draconic expectations...and therefore wrong.

The others never noticed, because it was Ashton the dragons vented their curiosity on, undeterred at being corrected time and time again. It was Ashton who had to listen to their running commentary and their ceaseless barrage of questions, inside his head more often than not. He learned to answer back just as quietly, most often in a mutter; thinking back at them was too strange at first, made the whole thing feel too permanent. He hadn't wanted to accustom himself to their presence in his mind, hoping they could go their separate ways before he began to think of their voices, cool and growled, as other selves.

By the time he realized he thought of them as friends, as partners, the habit of murmured replies had become ingrained.

_Stop biting me, Gyoro_ , Ururun grumbled in the back of Ashton's thoughts, the blue dragon making a half-hearted snap at his red brother's head. _Just because you're wrong_ \--

_Ha! If anyone's wrong, it's you. Ashton will settle this for us_ , Gyoro added, and Ashton fought the urge to groan aloud.

"Settle what?"

_My brother's lunacy_ , Ururun muttered with a small huff, cold-steam rising from the corners of his mouth as he ducked Gyoro's bite.

_It's not lunacy! Ashton, it's simple--is Claude...unable?_

"Unable to what?" Ashton asked without thinking, dismissing the first possibility that came to mind as too far-fetched even for those two. He hoped. Because if they really were asking him whether he thought Claude was--

_I still think you're mistaken_ , Ururun said with a sniff, ignoring the pitying glance Gyoro shot him.

_Please. No proper mating display would go on this long. It's clear Dias has no interest in Rena, so why does Claude continue to challenge him for her? I think he's working himself up until he's able to perform._

Ashton felt his jaw drop, briefly and inanely grateful to be walking at the back of the party as he began to sputter. "You...you...he...why would you even...?"

_Some males go that way with age_ , Gyoro pronounced loftily, in the tone of one who has never had that problem and would be all too pleased to inform the world if modesty didn't prevent it. _Fighting improves the blood_.

"Improves...?" Ashton echoed with a squeak. Was Gyoro suggesting that fighting made even monsters...excitable? He shook his head hard, not only to shrug off the strangeness of having this discussion in the first place, but also to dislodge a rather specific mental image that ambushed him from nowhere. Although Dias would...no, he shouldn't be thinking like that. At all. "It's not...like that. Wait. Why would you think...not interested?"

_That's where we disagree_ , Ururun replied, twisting his neck in a sinuous ripple that felt like a shrug.

Gyoro nodded firmly and heaved a put-upon sigh. _Exactly. He thinks Claude wants to mate with Dias, not Rena_.

Even as he said it, Ashton knew it was a mistake. Not the words, so much. Mostly just the volume.

_"With Dias?"_

The silence that followed was awful and echoing, and Ashton looked up to find everyone staring at him, even the dragons. Too late to will himself not to blush, he felt his face go hot and prickly, horrified to find himself babbling a moment later.

"I, uh...we were just talking, and--"

Dias' eyes were wary and watchful, and Ashton couldn't meet them for long. Somehow the idea of Claude and Dias didn't sit well with him at all, though he found it impossible to drive the thought from his head. Which wasn't making his blush look any less suspicious.

_Just tell him we want to spar with him_ , Gyoro hissed inside his head, and Ashton found himself answering in kind without hesitation.

_I don't want to_ lie--

_It's not a lie_ , Ururun assured him earnestly.

_Just do it!_

"They want to spar with you!" Ashton practically shouted, goaded beyond bearing.

Dias eyed him for what felt like a minor eternity before nodding at last with a still-closed expression.

Ashton managed not to heave a sigh of relief at being let off the hook, though as Dias turned to start walking again, Ashton found himself wondering if he hadn't just leapt from the frying pan into the fire. Spar? _With Dias?_ he almost repeated, more incredulously than the first time.

What exactly had he just gotten himself into?

***

Ashton shifted his grip on the hilts of his twin swords nervously, privately wishing he'd kept his mouth shut in the first place. At least the dragons seemed happy; they watched Dias with an almost predatory intensity as the man shook his cloak back over his shoulder, leaving his sword arm free. Ashton wasn't certain if he should be grateful they wouldn't have an audience or terrified at the lack of witnesses; their other friends had wandered off on the flimsiest of excuses, leaving Ashton and Dias alone in the courtyard behind the inn. Either way he supposed it was a good thing that there would be no one to watch Dias make mincemeat of him.

Ordinarily Ashton wouldn't have worried about his ability to hold his own against an opponent, any opponent, especially with the dragons fighting beside him--or, rather, behind him. Dias was another matter. There wasn't a swordsman alive who hadn't heard of Dias, who didn't secretly want to learn from him, match him, or best him. Ashton would settle for not making a fool of himself, distracted as he was by Ururun's bizarre misconceptions.

Dias didn't ask whether he was ready to begin. Ashton barely caught the silently arched brow aimed his way before Dias attacked, closing the space between them with a speed Ashton had somehow managed to forget. Dias was far too tall to move that quickly, but Ashton was quicker still, even with the dragons to weigh him down.

Pivoting in retreat, he let Dias' longer blade slide harmlessly by while bringing up his own, paired blades flashing as he whipped them around nearly too fast to see. It wasn't quite fast enough; Dias shifted his weight back, reversed his swing and parried effortlessly, and Ashton forgot to be nervous as admiration took its place. Dias moved like...he didn't want to say water; the long spill of Dias' hair made that comparison too cheap. It wasn't quite like fire either, not restless or flicker-sudden, but perfectly controlled right down to the bone. He moved like metal, Ashton decided, like a weapon in a skilled hand, and suddenly he couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"What?" Dias asked curtly, his next blow coming with a little more force.

"You're amazing," Ashton replied, unselfconscious in the simple joy of having a fine opponent.

"Try to sound a little more nervous when you say that," Dias murmured, but his voice lacked the mocking undercurrent his words should have demanded.

Ashton blinked, countered a blow and returned it without thinking as he contemplated instead the infinitesimal degrees by which the corners of Dias' mouth relaxed. Was Dias actually...teasing him?

And then there wasn't time for anything but attack and counterattack, and Ashton couldn't tell how much of his blows Dias was pulling, but it was exhilarating nonetheless. For the first time since he left his own teacher, Ashton didn't have to worry about a slipped blade or using too much force. Dias was equal to anything Ashton could throw at him, and the wonder of that kept him going past any awareness of time or weariness. And better yet--

"I thought you said the dragons wanted to spar," Dias prodded as they closed, Ashton's blades scissoring to trap Dias' between them before they broke apart once more.

Ashton almost stumbled as surprise threatened to overwhelm him, not because Dias would want to test himself against three adversaries at once but from how grateful he was that Dias didn't _mind_.

_It's just practice_ , he told himself, nodding at Dias before he could ask himself why he seemed to need the reminder. Of course it was just practice. What else was there, and why did that fill him with disappointment?

This time when Dias tried to lock swords with him, the taller man's longer blade and greater reach were no help against Ururun's sharp teeth, the dragon's sinuous neck uncoiling over Ashton's shoulder to snap at Dias' face. Dias looked intrigued, not frightened, as he backed quickly away, eyeing the situation with new intensity. Dias barely had time to gather himself for a new attack when Gyoro, a pale curl of smoke trickling between his bared fangs, opened his red maw and spat fire with a low growl.

Flames scorched the dust as Dias leapt away, suddenly on the defensive, and Ashton hesitated, asking the question with his eyes. Was that too much? The dragons' magic was a part of them, but Dias was a warrior, not a mage. An unfair advantage in a friendly match was no advantage at all.

Dias answered him with a smirk, saying, "You're a Crest Knight, aren't you?" As if he'd expected magic all along. As if it would have disappointed him if Ashton hadn't fought with everything he had.

"That's right," Ashton said, amazed to find himself grinning like ten kinds of fool. He'd never had an opponent like this. It almost broke his heart to know he never would again.

Just before Dias hit him with a wall of bladed air--just before Ashton _countered_ it with his Hurricane Slash--he found himself thinking that he'd give just about anything to have Dias consider him a rival instead of Claude. He didn't want to give this up. Not to anyone.

They were scorched and ruffled and breathless before they finally called a draw, and Ashton collapsed laughing where he stood, leaning back on his hands with his legs splayed out before him, even the dragons' proud heads drooping on their necks. He expected Dias to make a pithy comment and leave, or maybe nod in silent acknowledgement and leave, or even salute him--and _leave_ \--but Dias hesitated only briefly before settling down gracefully beside Ashton, looking straight ahead with an oddly determined set to his jaw. It likely meant something, but Dias was hardly the most social of their bunch, and Ashton put it down to making an effort. He was far too giddy himself to worry overmuch anyway.

"That was incredible," he said, looking over at Dias with a bright grin. "I've never fought anyone a fraction as good as you. _Thank_ you."

"Don't," Dias said shortly, but before Ashton's breath could more than catch in his throat, Dias added quietly, "I've never been fought to a standstill."

Oh...did he mean...? Ashton blinked. _Oh_. The thought put an odd flutter in the pit of his stomach, and though his smile faded a little, it was only because he felt unaccountably shy.

"Oh. That's...thank you. I mean--I'm glad. Um."

Ururun rescued him from a mortifying death by babbling, though Ashton almost thought the solution was worse than the problem. Snaking his neck out calmly, the ice dragon nudged Dias' shoulder, blue eyes fixed expectantly on Dias' face until the swordsman looked up.

"You were good too," Dias admitted, not quite smiling, though the narrow glint in his eyes could have been from amusement. Ashton hadn't quite managed to decide before Dias' hand came up and dropped heavy and companionable on the rounded top of Ururun's head.

Ashton nearly yelped aloud, though he'd learned his lesson when it came to speaking before he thought. It was just that he could feel Dias' hand as if it touched his own skin, the warm strength of it both soothing and intriguing at once. Though he tried not to wonder, his mind seized on the possibility of what those hands would feel like on his body, not stroking his scales with light, curious fingertips but--

Ashton hadn't intended to make a sound, but Dias was still touching him--no, touching Ururun--thumb rubbing slowly back and forth just behind the hard, bony plate that protected Ururun's brow. The dragon had his eyes shamelessly half-lidded in pleasure, purring a growl that sounded anything but menacing, and Ashton was just...he _missed_ touch. He missed having someone close, even a stranger. He still wasn't sure whether the dragons counted or not, but Dias--

Dias ran his hand down the smooth arch of Ururun's neck, and it was Ashton who moaned.

Dias didn't snatch his hand instantly away--Ashton would be grateful for that later, he was sure--but it went very still as Ashton's eyes opened wide, horrified and above all apologetic. He knew better than anyone how often the dragons were wrong about human motivation; he knew better than to take them seriously, to give too much consideration to their odder flights of fancy, and that had to be what had happened here. Dias wasn't...and Ashton would have sworn _he_ wasn't either, and even if he'd been wrong, if he did... _like_ Dias, he--

"Um," he said in a strangled voice, scrambling up and patting frantically at his swordbelt to make sure his blades were properly sheathed, his face twisted into a nervous rictus that wouldn't have passed for a smile no matter how hard you squinted at it. "I...I don't know what...excuse me," he finished in a rush, pivoting on one heel and escaping to the inn with quick strides, shoulders hunched, head tipped down to stare at his boots. Dias didn't call him back, and Ashton didn't think he could have answered the man if Dias had.

He nearly ran into Celine as he slipped inside, but though her brows arched silently at the sight of him, all she did was smile, like nothing could possibly be wrong.

" _There_ you are, darlings," she said, as if she'd been looking for them, though she must have known exactly where to find them. "Rena's already seen to our rooms; she hopes you don't mind," Celine added with a cryptic smile, slipping two fingers into the narrow valley between her breasts to fish out the key to his room. Despite his confusion and self-disgust, her attempt at a campy leer still had him chuckling, though it suddenly struck him as ominous that laughter was the _only_ response it inspired. Celine was lovely, charming, blessed in every way, and...why was he still thinking of _Dias?_

He knew why, though. He had the dragons' silence to tell him that.

Escaping to his rented room, he understood Celine's comment about Rena the moment he walked through the door. There wasn't one bed but two, and though that was hardly unusual--they'd stayed at much smaller towns than this, at inns modest enough to boast only two rooms altogether--he'd hoped to have a little time to himself to sort things out. At least Claude wouldn't be likely to stay cooped up inside long--and he was sure it would be Claude he was rooming with, because putting Claude and Dias in the same room would be a recipe for disaster, and Bowman annoyed the dragons to no end, always trying to figure out how they ate when they didn't, technically, have stomachs of their own.

He was tired, though, suddenly exhausted, and the sight of the twin beds made him want to throw himself down and bury his head under the pillows.

Without bothering to unfasten the clasp of his cloak, he pulled it up over his head and let the dragons slip their way out of the holes he'd cut for their necks in the back. He wouldn't have bothered further than making a few slashes in his clothes for convenience's sake; it was Rena who'd hemmed up the tears, Celine who'd gone out of her way to find him a new robe--" _one that brings out your eyes_ "--when his first attempt at accommodating the dragons' presence had ended with rather more hole than cloth. Claude had helped him adjust his newest armor...armor that Dias had found for him, with almost nothing said.

He hoped this didn't mean he'd have to leave. He didn't know what he'd do without them, without their friendship and unlooked-for acceptance.

_I'm sorry_ , Ururun said miserably as Ashton unbelted his robes, and that made him stop, tipping his head back to stare up at the dragon in surprise.

"Don't be," he said earnestly, reaching up to rest his hand on the ice dragon's head, right where Dias' had been just minutes before. "It wasn't you, Ururun. I...I don't know where my mind was."

Ururun nudged against Ashton's hand for comfort, and he obliged with a tiny smile, petting the soft scales while trying not to think too hard about why his own touch didn't affect him at all.

Gyoro sighed, sparks wisping up through the air before the red dragon rested his chin on the top of Ashton's head. _I don't understand why it's so complicated_ , Gyoro grumbled. _You're well-matched in strength, and you've gotten the courtship out of the way. If you like each other, you should just_ \--

_Gyoro_ , Ururun interrupted before Ashton could find his tongue, but--

"Dias doesn't like _me_ ," he protested, a little amazed that they were still stuck on this. "He's not...I don't know why you think he likes men, Gyoro--"

_Oh, no_ , Ururun said, craning his neck down to look Ashton in the eye. _We both agree on_ that. _Can't you smell it? There's nothing there when he looks at women, but his scent changes when he looks at you_.

Ashton...had to sit down at that. Luckily he made it to the bed before he ended up on the floor like an idiot. "He...are you serious?"

_Of course_. Ururun sounded surprised.

_So_ that's _what it is_ , Gyoro said in a pleased-sounding growl. _I wondered why you people could never make up your minds about each other. Can you really not smell how someone feels about you?_

Ashton shook his head, struck dumb. _If only things were that simple_ , he wanted to say.

_Hnf_ , Gyoro sighed on a banner of smoke. _At least you know now. You won't run next time, will you?_

"I...." He felt like he'd been enlightened by someone who'd missed the point entirely, which wasn't far wrong. He still wasn't sure _he_ liked Dias, or--no, that was foolish, and he didn't like to lie; what he wasn't sure of was whether he _wanted_ to like Dias, whether being 'matched in strength,' as Gyoro would put it, was enough to make him reconsider his...rather less than stellar career with women. It wasn't that he didn't like women, because he did. Really. He just had terrible luck with them. Like the one that turned out to be bored and married, or the one who'd just wanted to see what a Crest tattoo looked like for herself, or the one who....

There'd been one in Lacour who'd screamed at the sight of him, of _them_ , and he...he'd stopped trying after that.

But if he...if Dias...it wasn't like they could....

Groaning, Ashton dropped his face in his hands, elbows braced on his knees. He couldn't believe he was even considering this, and it was almost too embarrassing for words. Only the fact remained that unless he found a miracle cure somewhere on the road, one that would restore him to his former dragonless state without harming the dragons themselves in the process, he could either remain abstinent for the rest of his life or accept the fact that any lover he took would be getting...rather more than anyone usually bargained for. It wasn't like the dragons could just go for a walk for the sake of his modesty. Really, he had no modesty whatsoever where they were concerned, and while that had seemed an insurmountable difficulty in the first horrible few days, now he barely thought of it at all.

But he would have to think about it if they were right, because....

Why _had_ Dias touched Ururun like that? Curious and curiously gentle, not half impersonal enough to be the random affection of someone who simply liked animals. And the way he spoke to the dragons, as if he never forgot they could understand every word he said...who else did that? Other than Celine, and she was a witch from a long line of witches, used to demons and familiars. Dias wasn't. He still never forgot.

"This is crazy," Ashton muttered to himself as he rose to strip out of his robe and armor. He should sleep on it, stop driving himself crazy looking for answers and let it go for now. Things had a way of sorting themselves out. If nothing else, he could at least get a decent night's rest out of the whole thing; no one would expect him to be cheerful or chipper after sparring in earnest with Dias for over an hour.

Still. Dias had never seemed to mind the dragons from the beginning. If anyone could overlook the strangeness of the whole thing, it was probably him.

Only it wasn't just his decision anymore, was it?

Standing in his pants and his boots with his robe in his hands, Ashton held his breath as the ghost of an idea teased the back of his mind, something so simple and so unexpected, he was both surprised at himself for even thinking it and embarrassed that it hadn't occurred to him sooner.

"You...like him too," he asked slowly, "don't you?"

_It's...very strange_ , Ururun replied, answering more obliquely than either of the dragons tended to bother with. _He is a human, after all_.

_We're getting used to it_ , Gyoro agreed, turning his head away to glare at the wall, looking as discomfited as Ashton felt. _Maybe you should too_.

Ashton was still wondering how to answer that when he heard a second key turn in the lock. Somehow he wasn't surprised at all not to see Claude there when the door was pushed open, to find himself instead meeting Dias' eyes, the shadows there chased away by surprise.

For a moment it was terribly silent until Dias cleared his throat, dragged his eyes away with a wrench of effort. "I...Rena gave me the key," Dias said shortly. "I didn't mean--"

"Dias." Ashton felt very much like he was taking his courage in both hands for this, but that didn't mean it wasn't the right thing to do. Waiting until Dias' eyes flicked warily back to his, he tried a smile on for size, relieved when he found that it fit. "Do they really not bother you?"

Dias said nothing for a long moment, pinning him with an uncertain, weighing stare before he simply said, "No."

The acute burst of relief Ashton felt over that was more than he cared to examine.

"Right," he said, "okay. Could...could you close the door? If that's okay. If you want."

Dias closed the door with himself on the right side of it.

Ashton decided he might be able to trust luck after all.


End file.
